Issue 186

The Week of the Nutcracker

Janey and Ellie's dance company put on the full Nutcracker concert every year in conjunction with a near by city. Last year we went to see some friends in the production and the girls loved it so much they wanted to be in it this year. They do the full Nutcracker production (over 3 hours long!) with about 250 dancers. With 2 dress rehearsals and 2 performances, it was a week full of Nutcracker. Janey danced beautifully in the Japanese themed number and Ellie did a great job in both the Chinese and Scottish numbers. What a wonderful production to be a part of!

Bronze Medalist

Daniel competed in a Novice Fencing Tournament this weekend and came away with a 4th place in Y12 Foil and a 3rd Place Bronze in Y14 Epee! Not bad for 3 months of training! Way to go Daniel.

Issue 185

A New York State of Mind

Growing up we had a children's Christmas book that showed people ice skating beneath the glow of a giant Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center in New York. I've always wanted to go skating there at Christmas time and so for an early anniversary present Steve took me to New York to fulfill my childhood wish. It was as romantic and thrilling as I'd ever hoped it to be. We stayed with Steve's business partner and his family in gorgeous Summit, New Jersey, which is a very convenient train ride away from Manhattan.

 Christmas shopping on Times Square and 5th avenue was so much fun! The Christmas window displays & bright lights were magical. My favorite stops were the giant Toys R Us, the Lego store, the M&M store, of course the American Girls' Place!

 Another wish granted, I got to see Wicked on Broadway! Incredible, even if we had to cash in the kid's inheritance to afford the tickets.

 We saw downtown, midtown and uptown by double decker tour bus, and learned a lot of history along the way. Our second site seeing day we took in the amazing Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the largest cathedral in the world. The stained glass and sculptures were stunning.

 The traffic was so thick on a Saturday that it took us almost 2 hours to get from the museum area of town back down to Times Square. We had tickets for a harbor cruise at 4:00, and thought 2 hours would be plenty of time to travel the few blocks. We ended up running the four blocks from Times Square to the harbor and arrived just in time to see the boat disappear! So, the Lego Lady Liberty is the only one we got to see this trip. Good thing our friends invited us to stay with them again in the fall.

Saturday evening we attended a wonderful Christmas concert, held at the church located in the Manhattan Temple building, and went to church on Sunday with our friends in New Jersey. Can't wait to return!

Issue 184

An "UP" Kind of Weekend!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Hope you did too! We started the weekend off right with family pictures on a gorgeous afternoon. Seriously, you couldn't have asked for better November weather. (Can't wait to show them to you when we get them!)

Steve's parents put on a lovely feast, with all but one of the 27 Grandchildren attending, including the 2 brand new babies. We filled out the weekend with going out to dinner and the movies, more cousin time, a hike up Butterfield Canyon, a visit to the "UP" house and more going out to dinner and the movies.

Can't wait for Christmas break to do it all over again!

Issue 183

First Ski of the Season

The first snow of the season, mean breaking out the cross-country skis around here. Ellie and Janey traded off for at least 4 hours Saturday afternoon, first in the back yard and then at the park. Should be a great ski season.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

For the last two weeks I have been in the sitting choir for my school's Joseph play. Because I'm in the sitting chorus we don't have to worry about makeup or costumes, but we are basically the soundtrack for the entire play and rarely stop singing. It's been a good exsperience but I'm glad tommorow is the last performance. Then I can get back to having a life and picking up the slack I've left behind. :) We have a great director, Mr. Harsh, he's orchestrated the best high school play I've ever seen, much less been a part of. Mr. Jensen the choir and orchestra director has also been great and has kept us non-actors prepped and going. It's the first production I've been a part of and I'm glad I did it.

Issue 182

Snow Princesses

For my Birthday Date this year we had a wonderful dinner at Market Street and then Steve and I went to the H&M store opening in Utah. After waiting in line for twenty minutes to even enter the store, we found a beautiful jacket for me and these darling sweaters for the girls.

Steve told them they looked like Snow Princesses which delighted Ellie to no end.

Issue 181

Happy Halloween

The kids came up with their own Halloween costumes this year, as usual. A gangster, devil and a witch, definatly the opposites of their true personalities. Hope you had a happy Halloween!

First Fencing Tournament

Daniel competed in his first fencing tournament this weekend. He did quite well for his first tournament, even though he lost most of his matches, it was usually only by one point. His coach thought that was quite impressive, since most first time fencers don't score many points. Most the kids he fenced had been competing for a year or two. We're excited to see his progress in the next few tournaments.